diff --git a/Documentation/rev-list-options.txt b/Documentation/rev-list-options.txt
index 14c4cce60..359587c50 100644
--- a/Documentation/rev-list-options.txt
+++ b/Documentation/rev-list-options.txt
@@ -702,12 +702,16 @@ include::pretty-options.txt[]
 --date=<format>::
 	Only takes effect for dates shown in human-readable format, such
 	as when using `--pretty`. `log.date` config variable sets a default
-	value for the log command's `--date` option.
+	value for the log command's `--date` option. By default, dates
+	are shown in the original time zone (either committer's or
+	author's). If `-local` is appended to the format (e.g.,
+	`iso-local`), the user's local time zone is used instead.
 +
 `--date=relative` shows dates relative to the current time,
-e.g. ``2 hours ago''.
+e.g. ``2 hours ago''. The `-local` option cannot be used with
+`--raw` or `--relative`.
 +
-`--date=local` shows timestamps in user's local time zone.
+`--date=local` is an alias for `--date=default-local`.
 +
 `--date=iso` (or `--date=iso8601`) shows timestamps in a ISO 8601-like format.
 The differences to the strict ISO 8601 format are:
@@ -730,10 +734,15 @@ format, often found in email messages.
 `--date=format:...` feeds the format `...` to your system `strftime`.
 Use `--date=format:%c` to show the date in your system locale's
 preferred format.  See the `strftime` manual for a complete list of
-format placeholders.
+format placeholders. When using `-local`, the correct syntax is
+`--date=format-local:...`.
 +
-`--date=default` shows timestamps in the original time zone
-(either committer's or author's).
+`--date=default` is the default format, and is similar to
+`--date=rfc2822`, with a few exceptions:
+
+	- there is no comma after the day-of-week
+
+	- the time zone is omitted when the local time zone is used
 
 ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 --header::
diff --git a/builtin/blame.c b/builtin/blame.c
index 7cc499dd3..cb4ab204a 100644
--- a/builtin/blame.c
+++ b/builtin/blame.c
@@ -2600,7 +2600,6 @@ int cmd_blame(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		   fewer display columns. */
 		blame_date_width = utf8_strwidth(_("4 years, 11 months ago")) + 1; /* add the null */
 		break;
-	case DATE_LOCAL:
 	case DATE_NORMAL:
 		blame_date_width = sizeof("Thu Oct 19 16:00:04 2006 -0700");
 		break;
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 04c1907d5..ebb72568c 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -1110,7 +1110,6 @@ struct date_mode {
 		DATE_NORMAL = 0,
 		DATE_RELATIVE,
 		DATE_SHORT,
-		DATE_LOCAL,
 		DATE_ISO8601,
 		DATE_ISO8601_STRICT,
 		DATE_RFC2822,
@@ -1118,6 +1117,7 @@ struct date_mode {
 		DATE_RAW
 	} type;
 	const char *strftime_fmt;
+	int local;
 };
 
 /*
diff --git a/date.c b/date.c
index 9f0a5ddf6..7c9f76998 100644
--- a/date.c
+++ b/date.c
@@ -166,6 +166,7 @@ struct date_mode *date_mode_from_type(enum date_mode_type type)
 	if (type == DATE_STRFTIME)
 		die("BUG: cannot create anonymous strftime date_mode struct");
 	mode.type = type;
+	mode.local = 0;
 	return &mode;
 }
 
@@ -174,7 +175,7 @@ const char *show_date(unsigned long time, int tz, const struct date_mode *mode)
 	struct tm *tm;
 	static struct strbuf timebuf = STRBUF_INIT;
 
-	if (mode->type == DATE_LOCAL)
+	if (mode->local)
 		tz = local_tzoffset(time);
 
 	if (mode->type == DATE_RAW) {
@@ -232,7 +233,7 @@ const char *show_date(unsigned long time, int tz, const struct date_mode *mode)
 				tm->tm_mday,
 				tm->tm_hour, tm->tm_min, tm->tm_sec,
 				tm->tm_year + 1900,
-				(mode->type == DATE_LOCAL) ? 0 : ' ',
+				mode->local ? 0 : ' ',
 				tz);
 	return timebuf.buf;
 }
@@ -770,31 +771,50 @@ int parse_date(const char *date, struct strbuf *result)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static enum date_mode_type parse_date_type(const char *format, const char **end)
+{
+	if (skip_prefix(format, "relative", end))
+		return DATE_RELATIVE;
+	if (skip_prefix(format, "iso8601-strict", end) ||
+	    skip_prefix(format, "iso-strict", end))
+		return DATE_ISO8601_STRICT;
+	if (skip_prefix(format, "iso8601", end) ||
+	    skip_prefix(format, "iso", end))
+		return DATE_ISO8601;
+	if (skip_prefix(format, "rfc2822", end) ||
+	    skip_prefix(format, "rfc", end))
+		return DATE_RFC2822;
+	if (skip_prefix(format, "short", end))
+		return DATE_SHORT;
+	if (skip_prefix(format, "default", end))
+		return DATE_NORMAL;
+	if (skip_prefix(format, "raw", end))
+		return DATE_RAW;
+	if (skip_prefix(format, "format", end))
+		return DATE_STRFTIME;
+
+	die("unknown date format %s", format);
+}
+
 void parse_date_format(const char *format, struct date_mode *mode)
 {
-	if (!strcmp(format, "relative"))
-		mode->type = DATE_RELATIVE;
-	else if (!strcmp(format, "iso8601") ||
-		 !strcmp(format, "iso"))
-		mode->type = DATE_ISO8601;
-	else if (!strcmp(format, "iso8601-strict") ||
-		 !strcmp(format, "iso-strict"))
-		mode->type = DATE_ISO8601_STRICT;
-	else if (!strcmp(format, "rfc2822") ||
-		 !strcmp(format, "rfc"))
-		mode->type = DATE_RFC2822;
-	else if (!strcmp(format, "short"))
-		mode->type = DATE_SHORT;
-	else if (!strcmp(format, "local"))
-		mode->type = DATE_LOCAL;
-	else if (!strcmp(format, "default"))
-		mode->type = DATE_NORMAL;
-	else if (!strcmp(format, "raw"))
-		mode->type = DATE_RAW;
-	else if (skip_prefix(format, "format:", &format)) {
-		mode->type = DATE_STRFTIME;
-		mode->strftime_fmt = xstrdup(format);
-	} else
+	const char *p;
+
+	/* historical alias */
+	if (!strcmp(format, "local"))
+		format = "default-local";
+
+	mode->type = parse_date_type(format, &p);
+	mode->local = 0;
+
+	if (skip_prefix(p, "-local", &p))
+		mode->local = 1;
+
+	if (mode->type == DATE_STRFTIME) {
+		if (!skip_prefix(p, ":", &p))
+			die("date format missing colon separator: %s", format);
+		mode->strftime_fmt = xstrdup(p);
+	} else if (*p)
 		die("unknown date format %s", format);
 }